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Last week we took a look back at the year that was and listed our favorite games. This week we turn to the year ahead and the games that have us sitting on pins and needles in anticipation. Each staff member will have his (or her!) day and we move on to Mike for today's installment. See what's got Mike all of a dither and then leave your thoughts in the comments.

2012 was a great year for MMOs, but there is still a ton of awesome stuff to look forward to in 2013. I’ve got my eye on a couple of games in particular and today I’ll be sharing my top five picks for 2013 with you.

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Originally posted by KingofHartzSwtor still has potential. No its not for all me included, but it still isn't bad, it just caught a lot of negativity due to overhyping

Its just best to accept the game for what it is, people were comparing it to other games and as soon as that happened, it didn't meet expectations, especially SWG vets/fans were disappointed, its just best to accept it for wat it is. Look at the good things about it, it doesnt have filthy fairies etc.

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Ok, I don't feel I have a right to criticise you for liking games I didn't this year, but that statement gave me a serious WTF moment. How on earth can you say it was a great year for MMOs?

Warhammer 40k MMO, canceled

38 Studios makers of KoA, imploded, company dissolved

TOR, fastest fall from grace since Icarus, massive layoffs, free to play less than a year after numerous votes of MMO of the year.

TSW, low initial sales, massive layoffs, game buy to play

COH, canceled even though some feel it was still profitable

Tera, layoffs, free to play

GW2, looks to still be going strong, but as some have mentioned on these forums seems to be moving away from its core principles, which I feel can't be a good thing.

And I'm sure there's some others I've missed.

So looking at that list and seeing how many AAA games either failed in their initial attempt or bit the dust completely this year, I personally fail to see how there was very much good, let alone great about it.

Oh sure there are a lot more free to play or sub free games around for us to play, but I seriously doubt that's much consolation to all the poor bastards that put their sweat and blood into creating them only to then get kicked out onto the street. When you factor in the human cost of these games going free or buy to play I have to resort to the old chestnut of "The rent is too damned high."

And yes I know that the MMO business has always been a volatile one, but this many big name MMO stumbles in one year has to be some kind of record, and you know it will take a toll on the industry in some way.

I'd be willing to predict that after this year there are going to be far less big money investors that think the MMO platform is a sound investment, and will take that money elsewhere. Less money means less new games. Less new games means less jobs in an industry where there are currently a lot of people looking for work. It also means less games for us to look forward to playing. Everybody loses.

And as to your list for 2013

An expansion to TOR. Doesn't sound entirely terrible but considering how poorly they've handled things up till now I don't have much faith in it doing much to turn the game around.

FFXIV A Realm Reborn. Might actually be a gem in the rough, but since they have spent so much money to try to rebuild this game, if it does fail, again, I imagine it will bury Square Enix.

Wildstar, while I'm not overly in love with its cartoon style graphics the game does look like a potential winner.

The Elder Scrolls Online. No idea on this one. So far it looks to be pissing off MMO and TES fans alike. Whether any of that anger is justified or not I guess we will have to wait and see. Personally I fear, but hope we don't, have another TOR on our hands with this one.

Neverwinter. Again big unknown, from what they've shown us it certainly doesn't look horrible, but with Cryptic's chequered past, I for one am not holding my breath.

If you don’t do stupid things while you’re young, you’ll have nothing to smile about when you’re old.

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Originally posted by noncley

Why is Bitton putting the SWTOR expansion in his TOP 5 when it hasn't even been launched yet?

[mod edit]

In Mike's defence since Rise of the Hutt Cartel is an expansion for a game that's been live for a year, I'd say its about the only choice up there where you can make a truly educated guess. The rest, including a Realm Reborn which looks to be a drastic reworking of its previous self, are still pretty big unknowns.

If you don’t do stupid things while you’re young, you’ll have nothing to smile about when you’re old.

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You're still a fan of that ol' themepark formula aye Mike? 2013 has a lot of promise, but because of all the sandboxes coming out this year...not for your list of more of the same. The Repopulation, Greed Monger, ArcheAge, Black Deserts, and a gold Wurm Online are all reasons to get excited. For me at least....guess I'm just weird. /shrug

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"2012 was a great year for MMOs"

That statement alone, make you go what!! Mike 2012 was not a great year for mmo's.

You saw one studio go bankrupt and end up in court. We seen many mmo's go free to play in order to save their game. We saw games like tera and GW2 that was supposed to be the new ang greatest thing to happen since cheese. We saw some games shut down. There has been more negative game news this year than I can ever remember.

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You missed an important expansion rumored to come out this year; Aion 4.0 with 2 new classes the Bard and the Gunner. For some reason people are still talking about the NOT f2p SWTOR, this game is a joke. It is not f2p by any deffinition and it is not even freemium as you most certenly need a sub to enjoy any of the real content in the game. You also missed Blade & Soul which is also rumored for this year. So there are 2 games that could have easily replace SWTOR from NCSoft same makers as Wildstar that you mentioned.

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I will admit that I am surprised that an incomplete expansion pack being released as a mild content patch for SWTOR makes your list when a potential 3A title like Trion's Defiance with support on multiple media platforms does not. I guess I can understand in the sense that it's a minor release for something you like to play. It just doesn't seem like a game to look forward to in the broad sense. But its your opinion and I hope you have fun with the x pack.

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I definitely agree with Mike. I had a lot of fun playing MMOs in 2012. Storm Legion is taking up my time atm. Trion's devs are nothing short of top notch. I am also looking forward to the SWToR expansion even thou I had hoped for some class story continuation. Of the new games, Wild Star looks interesting as does Neverwinter.

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That statement alone, make you go what!! Mike 2012 was not a great year for mmo's.

You saw one studio go bankrupt and end up in court. We seen many mmo's go free to play in order to save their game. We saw games like tera and GW2 that was supposed to be the new ang greatest thing to happen since cheese. We saw some games shut down. There has been more negative game news this year than I can ever remember.

To call it a great year no, it has been a disaster one after another.

I was trying to say that many good MMOs came out in 2012, not that the year was full of great news for the MMO industry. Perhaps I should have chosen my words better. In any case, hopefully that's clarified. :)

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Solid list, I can't really say I am on the same page as the OP but I can see these being the talked about games of 2013.

About the only game I'm looking forward to at this point is Blade & Soul and I have no illusions that it will be anything but a standard themepark setup but I am ok with that. I am having a hard time getting myself to care about any other game in the wings to be honest. If anything I see ESO as a game that starts strong and declines from there because it isn't anything like the original Elder Scrolls games, its only Elders Scrolls in name and will probably alienate fans that will expect it to be like Skyrim and realize its just the typical MMO fair.

Neverwinter looks kinda interesting but I'm still not quite sold on Cryptic being anything more then lackluster developer at this point. Sure they have some "decent" games like STO and CO but they aren't setting any standards by any means. I'll remain cautiously optimistic about Neverwinter until I get to sit down and play it but I think it has the best chance out of the games listed this year to be big.